


Soft Pink, Fluffy Black

by tinydaydream



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: F/F, Fluff, No Plot/Plotless, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-13 23:26:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13581162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinydaydream/pseuds/tinydaydream
Summary: HomuMado one-shots. Here be fluffiness!





	1. Apartment Shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HomuMado is the best OTP. The anime/manga/movies themselves get so angsty and dark, though—none of that here. Maybe things will be more serious sometimes, but I never want to let these one-shots get dark. Homura deserves only good things after whatever awful backstory she inevitably goes through, and Madoka is just too adorable in general. Pure fluff ahead.

“What did you think of this one, Homura?” I look up at her face, noticing Homura’s as quiet and lost in thought as ever. I smile slightly. “It’s hard to pick one if you never tell me which ones you actually like or not.”

Both of us are headed for university, nowhere close to Mitakihara, and mama isn’t a big fan of the university housing, leaving us no choice but to look for apartments. Homura will be studying some type of biological engineering, and I’ll be on the educational studies campus next to it. She seems so much more confident about her choice, but I guess it’s basically expected at this point for her never to show doubt or insecurity in public. Me, I don’t really know what I’m doing yet. Medicine seemed like an obvious choice years ago, but as much as people recommended it, I’m pretty terrible with all the scary stuff around it. Seeing people get hurt all the time? No thanks. On the other hand, being a teacher to kids always seemed like a nice and fun enough thing to do.

My parents were very encouraging, of course. After mama got over the small disappointment that her daughter wouldn’t end up some important doctor, she said that I was far more like papa in that way, anyway; that I’m not one to seek out overly ambitious goals, and am happy to just help the people around me. I’m not sure how to feel about that, but that sounds like me? Even Homura said that teaching would probably fit me. Internally, I grumble a bit as I remember her _also_ mentioning that it would depend on whether I could stop a bunch of toddlers from walking all over me. She’s not wrong.

“Hm? Oh, it was… okay, I think?” Homura pauses for a second. “The living room is pretty big, and the bathroom looks good. I liked this one better than the first two, but really wish there were another separate bedroom like the first one had.”

Though I agree with her on the living room and bathroom—this apartment is definitely my favorite so far—I’m not sure I get that last part. What’s the point of an extra bedroom?

Is she planning to have guests over all the time? That… doesn’t sound like her at all. Homura’s been very focused on finding a place as cheap as possible, since mama already promised to pay for everything, and it’s so like her to not want to burden anyone. Even my parents telling her she was practically family anyway would do nothing to stop her from trying to be as low-maintenance as possible.

I look up at her questioningly. Homura shrugs, “It’s no big deal. Just figured you’d want your own space without me getting in the way all the time?”

Seriously? That seems like a pretty silly reason to me. “You already came over for sleepovers all the time back in school, right? I don’t really see why a separate room would be important now all of a sudden. What, were you planning to do some spooky bio-experiments somewhere I won’t be allowed to see?” I smile, making sure she knows I’m just teasing.

“N-No, I mean…” Homura looks away awkwardly, and I look at her curiously. “…I don’t know, what if you have other friends over? I don’t want to get in the way. Sleepovers are different because they didn’t happen every day, so we could just plan around them.”

I raise an eyebrow at that. “So? There’s a small living room, they can crash on the couch there if they need to. Is that all there is to it?” It seems like such a strange small thing to prioritize to me, most people would prefer the couch over… what exactly? Crashing on the floor in one of the bedrooms? Seems like an easy decision to me.

Homura sighs, and I look back up at her, noticing a small blush forming on her cheeks. “I mean. If you ever got, you know… a boyfriend?” She tries not to look me in the eyes, “I-I don’t want to get in the way of anything like that.”

I let out a small giggle, I can’t help it. So that’s what has her all mumbling and stammering? She’s so adorable when she gets all flustered trying to breach an awkward subject.

It’s not like I’ve never thought about what it’d be like to have a boyfriend, but it’s hard to believe she’s thinking about something like _that_ instead of worrying about far more practical issues. Besides, I’ve never been very popular with boys in class anyway. Mama always said it would happen eventually, or that I just didn’t notice, but…

Off-hand, I also can’t remember ever being interested in anyone that way. I guess we’ll see, I’m happy just having good friends.

Actually, thinking about it… if anyone should worry about this problem, it should be _Homura_ ; she had become even more popular than Hitomi in school, and most of the boys seemed to be pretty much in love with her. Not surprising in the least, what with Homura’s cool attitude, her maturity, her pretty-…ah! I’m letting these thoughts get away from me again. It wasn’t like Homura ever seemed to notice or care about all the attention, anyway. Either way, she seems far more likely to end up with a boyfriend at some point here than me.

Huh. I wonder if she already has one, and is just embarrassed to talk about it? …That thought is making me feel a bit jealous, for some reason, what’s up with that? Well, if that’s her reason for wanting a separate room, I can’t blame her, can I? Wanting to have a room they can share isn’t unreasonable, I think? I try not to think about the details, but I’m sure lots of people do that sort of thing.

Noticing Homura’s still looking at me, I fake a smile, pretending not to be bothered by my thoughts at all. “It’s a little early for me to be thinking about that sort of thing, I’ve never even had a boyfriend, you know?” I pause for a second, curious when Homura visibly relaxes. “You sure you’re not the one with a secret boyfriend? Not that I’d mind! But then we’d, uh, might want the separate room, yeah.”

She looks at me with that signature stare of her, a disbelieving look on her face.

Okay, I guess I was wrong about that one then. That’s… good to know. Hm. I hope the relief isn’t too visible on my face. “So one bedroom is probably fine, then?” Genuinely smiling at her now, I continue, “I’m sure we can figure something out if the situation changes at some point, but let’s not worry about it now, okay?”

Homura nods. “O-Okay.” Giving me a shy smile, her warm hand envelops my own—I’m glad I got her used to hand-holding regularly—and rubs her thumb over the back of my hand gently.

Trying to hide my blush, I suddenly wonder what it’d be like to be the one to share a room with Homura instead, feeling something strange in my stomach.

Interrupting my embarrassing thoughts, she motions at the bus we’ve been waiting for, and we head off to check one last apartment.

* * *

 One last place, and this one actually has a second bedroom as well. I’ve been distracted ever since Homura took my hand and held it for the entire bus ride, and have no idea what makes this apartment so special. The real estate agent had been going on about energy efficiency of the heating system or… something, and while Homura seemed to be paying attention and asked questions at all the right moments, I found myself daydreaming about a certain black-haired girl again.

What is even going on with me? One moment I’m excited about university and dragging Homura around to look at apartments, and now none of that seems to matter compared to daydreaming about my best friend?

Maybe it’s just the idea of sharing an apartment with Homura—with _only_ Homura. I suppose it’s not too surprising to get confused about my feelings toward someone I’ve known for most of my life because of that, someone who’s been my best friend for at least half of it, and someone who always had time for me no matter what.

But… we’re both girls. Isn’t it considered weird to have these kind of thoughts about another girl? True, she’s never seemed interested in boys, and it’s not the first time that I wonder whether there’s another reason she always treats me better than everyone else—but that’s probably just wishful thinking, I’m just a good friend to her. Even if she _is_ very pretty, and cool, and mature, and her lips look so soft, and…

“Aw, crap.”

I blush, realizing I let that slip out, and Homura’s already looking at me, eyebrows raised sky high.

“That’s… something you don’t hear every day. You must _really_ not like this apartment.” She gives me a confused look, probably wondering what the problem is.

Wait, where’d that real estate person go anyway?

“Ah, uh, just a random thought. Where’d that man go, though? I thought he was trying to explain something about the insulation of this apartment or some other technical thing?”

Still eyeing me skeptically, Homura replies, “You really must’ve been dreaming, huh?” She hides a small smile behind her hand as I pout at her. “He had to help out visitors to some other apartment, and told us to take a good look around as long as we make sure to close the door behind us afterwards.”

That must be why it feels so quiet all of a sudden, with no constant stream of words about energy efficiency entering their ears. I stifle a yawn and stretch my arms over my head. I’m glad this is the last apartment to check—it’s getting late, and my thoughts are _really_ confusing today.

Looking around me, while I don’t _hate_ this apartment, I can’t say I’m a particularly big fan either. Noticing the look on my face, Homura nods. “I agree, it’s not as good as the previous one. I think you liked that one the most, too?”

I smile at her and nod. “We’re in agreement, then?” Unable to stop myself, I reach for her hand, hoping she won’t interpret it as anything strange. I-It’s just what we always do, right? No reason to feel awkward about it.

Secretly relieved Homura doesn’t cringe away from the contact like she sometimes does, I give her hand a little squeeze, looking up happily. “It’ll be nice to have a cozy place like that.” The apartment itself may not be the only reason, but she doesn’t need to know that.

“Y-Yeah, though… you’re sure on the two beds in one bedroom thing?”

Homura still looks conflicted, and I sigh. “Yeah, you silly.” Feeling my cheeks warm up as another thought occurs, I continue, “I’d much rather talk to you at night than some stupid boy anyway.”

She blushes and smiles at that, which makes me happy. “I feel exactly the same.” For a moment, it looks like she’s about to say more.

Can I push this further?

With that man gone, there’s no one else around. I’d rather not make her feel awkward, but this feeling in my stomach… I take one small step closer to her. “No boy could ever replace you, Homura…”

I try to smile, making it look like I’m just teasing, but the effectiveness is diminished by how red my face just got. That… definitely ended up sounding less like a teasing comment and more like a confession than I intended. Good job, me.

Homura looks conflicted, and I immediately worry I messed up. What was I even expecting to happen here? “The girl figured out she’d always loved her best friend, and then they got married and moved to a castle and lived happily ever after?” I really need to learn to not always be such an open book about my feelings, even if just for a few days so I can figure them out.

Before I can think of something clever to say to fix things, Homura suddenly speaks up. “Madoka…” I gulp. That voice…

Her face lights up as well, and before I realize what’s going on, she suddenly closes the distance between us and presses her lips to mine.

“…Mmh!?”

My thoughts turn into a muddled mess, and the flutters in my stomach are stronger than ever. Homura’s lips are so soft. So warm. I want to feel… more. Slowly opening my mouth, I hear her soft giggle before the kiss deepens and her tongue claims mine. Her hands wrap around my waist, pulling me closer, and it’s at that moment that I know I want her to hold me like this forever.

The moment ends far too quickly, and Homura pulls back and grins, a blush on her cheeks and looking rather smug at how all that affected me. “I love you too, Madoka.”

I giggle. “Maybe the one bedroom isn’t such a bad thing after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m a bit iffy on honorifics. They feel like they’re such a significant part of the way Madoka talks to people that I feel strange leaving them out, but I never like how they work in English. I may experiment with this more. This is also my first time experimenting with a first-person POV, so I’m hoping that worked out decently well.


	2. Making Friends

“Homura, once you’re in university, you’ll make all sorts of new friends!”

Yeah, right.

My parents encouraging words ring hollow in my mind as yet another lonely day of coding and lectures is about to end. The classes are hard, even for someone like me, and there’s not a lot of opportunity to be social. I can’t afford to get distracted. I know my parents would just tell me to go out more, chat to random people, and so on, but…

Well, let’s just say that if I were any good at that, I wouldn’t be trying to make friends for the first time in the first place.

The end-of-lecture bell rings and I grab my notes, noticing I’ve been scribbling all over them again. I guess I got distracted thinking about all this friend stuff after all. It’s going to be awkward if I don’t understand something in the textbook for the midterms test. Here’s hoping this doesn’t lead to another all-nighter later.

Sighing, I start making my way to my favorite campus café. It’s freezing cold outside again, with small bits of snow falling from the sky and sticking to my thin hoodie. Winter’s not usually something I mind, but it doesn’t make getting to and leaving campus any easier, what with my apartment being on the other side of town. At least the café will be warm, my one place of comfort before making the trip home.

Strangely enough, it’s not a particularly popular place. There’s usually no more than five people in the afternoon. True, the campus has plenty of fast food places and other cafés, but they don’t seem able to capture the same kind of cozy atmosphere. Something about the smell of freshly-brewed coffee and wood reminds me of home—it’s so much better than the plasticky environments in most other places I’ve been to.

Besides, it’s nice to have the place be on the quieter side. The pressure to socialize almost always bothers me on campus, but aside from making small-talk with the owner of this café I can just lose myself in my thoughts and coffee. The other patrons mostly keep to themselves, too, though lately there’s been this odd pink-haired girl who keeps looking at me strangely.

I think so, anyway, but I’m probably just imagining it. No idea what she could possibly want from me.

She didn’t seem like the café was right for her anyway, so she probably won’t come back. I smile slightly as I remember her ordering a coffee and mumbling something about needing to try it at least once, only to spurt it out after taking a sip and yelling about how bitter it was. Everyone had a good laugh about it, and the owner even offered her hot chocolate—on the house—instead. It really is a nice place.

A frown appearing on my face, I wonder if her looking at me was the kind of situation my parents meant you just had to dive into to make a new friend. Maybe she’s in the same boat, and just too shy to talk to me. Hah, I guess that’s a pretty silly thought.

Either way, I’m not sure if I hope she’s around again. Maybe if I catch her staring again, I’ll confront her about it. That’s a normal way to deal with that sort of situation, right?

Opening the café door and hearing the familiar jingle, I let the warmth wash over me as I look around. Good, she’s not here right now. Or does it feel a bit disappointing? Ugh, whatever.

“Welcome back, miss Akemi!” The owner’s greeting is as enthusiastic as ever, causing even me to smile slightly. I’ve really warmed up to the people in this place. Almost literally, I suppose. “Can I make you the usual?”

Hm, I wonder…

“Actually, could I have a hot chocolate today? Not too sweet, please.”

A brief flicker of surprise on the the owner’s face—I wonder if it’s weird to ask his name at some point—but it’s quickly replaced by a smile and nod. “Everyone has to try something different sometimes, huh? Got it! It’ll be ready in a minute.”

Sitting down on one of the soft chairs in the corner of the café, I stare out the window, lost in thought. The weather’s only gotten worse, and snow is starting to pile up everywhere. The few people still outside seem to be in a hurry to find shelter as quickly as possible, with most of them rushing to the campus housing to the east. Thank god it’s warm and dry in here.

But hot chocolate, huh? Maybe I’m thinking more about this girl than I thought I did. I should ask her name and what she’s studying here, I’m kind of curious now.

Assuming she ever shows up again, of course.

I sigh. She probably won’t want to come back after everyone laughed at her reaction to coffee. I doubt anyone was mean-spirited about it, but there’s no way for her to know that. There’s a good chance she doesn’t want to risk showing up again.

Making friends is so complicated.

The sound of a cup being put on the table wakes me from my thoughts, and I look up, staring right in the eyes of a girl about my age.

The same pink-haired girl.

She blushes. “A-Ah, I just came in, and saw your drink was just ready, so I offered to bring it over.” For some reason, I can’t make myself look away from her pink eyes. Stammering awkwardly, she continues, “Is it okay for me to sit here too, maybe?” She takes a deep breath and bows clumsily, “I-I mean, hi, I’m Madoka! Nice to meet you!”

It takes my brain a few seconds to come back to earth and stop staring at her, realizing she just introduced herself and I’m now supposed to do the same. “H-Hi. I’m Ake-… I mean, my name is Homura.” I hope I didn’t creep her out with that stare. Did she say something about wanting to sit down here too? “And, yeah, feel free to sit down here. I’m probably not too interesting for company, though.”

You idiot, why’d I say that last part just now. That’s not how you’re supposed to make new friends.

Thankfully, the girl—Madoka, I think her name was? I like it—just smiles brightly and sits down next to me, holding a cup of hot chocolate of her own as well. “I’m sure it’s fine! I’ve wanted to chat with you for a while now.”

She suddenly blushes. Huh?

“I mean, you just looked kind of lonely, and I’ve been trying to make friends here, so I figured we could both be less lonely that way.” Madoka trails off, mumbling something about it being okay if it’s unwanted and she will just leave me alone.

Okay, I can do this.

I promised my parents I’d make at least one friend this year.

Hesitantly, I reach for her free hand, and wrap mine around it. That’s something that’s normal for friends to do, right? “I-I’d like that. To be friends, I mean.”

A brilliant smile on her face assures me I didn’t mess that up. Phew. “Thank you, Homura! So… you didn’t seem like the kind of person to order anything other than coffee. You actually like hot chocolate?”

The owner shoots me a meaningful glance at her sudden enthusiasm, but I’m not entirely sure what he’s trying to say. It probably doesn’t matter much. Madoka’s clearly an easily excited girl, and I’m going to make the most of this opportunity to make an actual friend.

* * *

We finally make it back outside after the owner reminded us of the time. I guess it really is true what they say about time flying when you’re having fun.

It turns out we actually have a fair bit in common. We both live in the same part of town, like the same kinds of food, and enjoy the same kinds of music. Madoka also seems on the quiet side like me, though she’s much warmer to strangers, so it surprises me slightly that she hasn’t made a lot of friends here yet either—apparently she has a few close ones back in her hometown, though.

Of course, there’s differences too. I study computer science, and Madoka’s in the pre-med program, so it’s no wonder I’ve not seen her on campus much before. I find myself cringing away slightly from descriptions of some of those biology classes, and her eyes glazed over the moment I brought up a math class I found particularly interesting, so we quickly moved on to a more interesting subject.

She’s also _really_ pretty. That shoulder-length wavy pink hair suits her really well, and her look in general is just incredibly cute. A green sweater—now mostly hidden by a big white parka—short black skirt and leggings, and then cute white sneakers under them. I’m surprised she didn’t mention a boyfriend.

Madoka turns her head to look at me, noticing me staring, and shoots me a shy smile. Her lips look so soft…

Wait.

Am I supposed to be thinking about a friend this way?

It’s still snowing, but it looks a little more manageable now. I shiver. Still very cold, though. I really should’ve brought a warmer coat to campus today, or at least worn more layers of clothing. At least it’ll be warm again once I manage to make it back and can take a hot bath.

Madoka looks at me meaningfully. “You look cold…” She unzips the oversized parka, “Do you want…?”

She’s so overly concerned about others, too… “Ah, no. That’s fine. There’s no point if you’d just be cold instead.” I’d feel bad if she got a cold because of me not bringing something warmer.

A small giggle. “Hm… That’s not what I meant.”

Madoka takes a step closer to me, and I let out a little yelp out of surprise as she wraps the parka around the both of us, pulling my left arm through one of the sleeves, and then zipping it up again.

“There! Now we’ll both be warm!” A happy grin on her face leaves me no choice but to shrug and figure it’s best to just run with it. She’s right that neither of will be cold this way, so who am I to complain?

Her left hand holds my right, and I find myself blushing too. I don’t want to overthink this, but isn’t this overly affectionate? She looks unsure, “Is this okay?”

“Y-Yeah.” I swallow awkwardly. “Just not used to this kind of thing.”

Madoka smiles brightly. “Hmmm, we’re friends now, right? So it’s fine. I’m sure you’ll get used to it!” She gives me a gentle squeeze, but that only causes my cheeks to redden even more. She giggles, “You’re cute when you’re embarrassed.”

Not helping here, Madoka.

I sigh internally as we head out, walking slower than we could individually, but the pavement’s icy enough that that probably doesn’t hurt. I hope this shared parka doesn’t make it harder to keep our balance.

I’m only noticing this now, but now that it’s not snowing as heavily all the roads and buildings really do look pretty. Everything’s covered in white, which makes the environment look a lot brighter and more cheerful even if it’s getting late enough that it’s hard to see. Part of me feels a childish impulse to make a snowman, or pelt Madoka with snowballs, or just make a snow angel. That’s not something I’d usually be enthusiastic about, but I suppose today is turning out to be a bit different.

Madoka’s… really warm, so at least that’s one problem taken care of. With how much I’m blushing too, it’s hard to let the winter cold bother me. She looks so happy. I’m honestly glad she needed a friend here just as much as me, though I probably would have trouble putting that in words so I’ll just stay quiet.

For a second, I swear she looks rather insecure, but I blink and it’s gone, only for Madoka to intertwine her fingers with mine. Is she just trying to see how far she can push this now? This really doesn’t feel like the kind of thing I’d do with friends, let alone ones I just met.

I try to look away, but almost slip and lose my balance as Madoka suddenly stands still in front of an old building, a really odd look in her eyes. “We’re at my place already! Wow, that was a lot faster than I thought it’d be!”

Her voice sounds cheerful enough, but she looks a bit sad. It can’t be that big a deal for me to leave for my own place now, right? “Will I see you again tomorrow? I had a lot of fun talking to you!”

I smile. At least it doesn’t look like I’ll have to worry about being overly clingy with her. “You have my number, right? We can meet up at the café again, or somewhere else, if you want.” Zipping down and wriggling out of the parka, I breathe in the cold air. The wind bites my skin, but I feel so warm that it doesn’t bother me. Madoka seems about to protest, but I shush her with one finger to her lips. “I can manage without the parka for the rest of the trip, really. Thank you for keeping me warm for most of it.”

She shoots me one last shy smile, when suddenly she grabs my hoodie, steps forward, and presses her lips against mine. W-What!? Before I can react, she goes bright red and jumps away. “S-See you tomorrow, then!” Giving me no time to respond, she opens the door to the apartment complex and dashes away up the stairs.

In a daze, I touch my index finger to my lips, still feeling the softness of hers on mine. A giggle escapes me as I realize how embarrassed she must’ve felt making that move, and how I’m blushing more than ever before. She’s so cute.

This new friendship feels like it’s going to work out just fine. And my parents will be happy to hear I’ve made at least one friend this year.

As I make my way back to my apartment, I wonder whether they’ll agree that a girlfriend qualifies, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hereby decree that all of my HomuMado one-shots shall have at least one kiss.


End file.
